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FIFA Considering Extra Officials, Not Video Review

FIFA on Monday continued to resist calls for goal-line technology, a day after match officials failed to see Frank Lampard’s shot go over the line in England’s 4-1 loss to Germany.

“I have no authority to comment on refereeing decisions,” Nicolas Maingot, a FIFA spokesman, said in response to questions about whether soccer’s world governing body would adopt sensors or video review to determine if balls crossed the goal line. He noted that matters pertaining to the rules of the game were handled by the International Football Association Board.

FIFA holds four votes on the eight-member board. The other members are the sport’s founding federations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Six votes are needed to alter an existing rule or install a new one, making FIFA’s agreement essential to any proposed changes in the rules.

Maingot said FIFA would consider adding two extra officials who would act as goal judges, one at each end of the field, a system that the Europa League — a major European club competition — used last season. But he echoed the statement made Sunday by Jérôme Valcke, FIFA’s general secretary, that electronic review was not an option.

Valcke made the statement despite a call for goal-line technology to prevent missed calls like the one on Lampard’s shot — ranging from the video reviews used to detect goals in the N.H.L. and home runs in baseball; to the electronic Hawk-eye system used in tennis; to a proposed sensor system to detect whether a soccer ball crosses the goal line.

“We didn’t say you could have a zero-fault system in the World Cup,” Valcke said. “Additional assistants could happen in 2014 to make sure these kind of things are not happening in refereeing.

“It doesn’t mean the use of video, that is definitely not on the table today, but one thing we are discussing is two additional assistants to support referees to make decision-making easier and to have more eyes helping him to make such decisions.”

Sunil Gulati, the head of the United States Soccer Federation, said he was willing to have Major League Soccer experiment with changes that could help reduce errors by on-field officials.

“We’d be happy to do some trial cases, not rules of the game or something like that, but with an additional referee or technology,” Gulati said Monday.

The video review systems used in other sports cause a delay in the game that can disrupt the flow and spontaneity of the action — one reason cited by the FIFA president, Sepp Blatter, for his resistance to video review.

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But certain electronic systems, like the proposed sensor system, could enable referees to make near-instantaneous decisions on goal-line plays.

David Cameron, the new British prime minister, came out in favor of goal-line technology.

“I’m a keen follower of cricket and tennis, and I think the third umpire has been a great thing, and the machines that bleep at Wimbledon are quite handy, too,” Cameron said Sunday after the Germany-England match. “Maybe that’s something that football could now have a look at.”

Maingot also said that FIFA would control the big-screen video replays shown at World Cup stadiums in reaction to another controversy Sunday, when Carlos Tévez’s first goal for Argentina against Mexico was shown to be clearly offside.

Mexico’s players gathered around match officials pointing to the stadium screens in a vain effort to have the goal nullified.

Maingot said that showing the replay on the stadium video screens was “a clear mistake” that “will be corrected.”

ANOTHER LOSS FOR ENGLAND As if being undressed by Germany in a 4-1 defeat was not bad enough, some English players had clothing and other articles stolen from their hotel rooms.

Members of the cleaning staff at the luxury hotel where England stayed in Rustenburg stole uniform shirts, a medal and even underwear, the police said.

A police spokeswoman said only a small amount of cash was taken — about $750. The thieves instead seemed interested in souvenirs, like a United States team jersey an England player received in the customary postmatch trade.(AP)

A version of this article appears in print on June 29, 2010, on Page B11 of the New York edition with the headline: FIFA May Add Extra Officials. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe